Chapter 42

"Steve?"

My head hurts. My whole body hurts. I'm so dizzy I can barely make out what's in front of me. But I think it's her. I think it's -

"Claire?"

She runs to me. She presses a button on the wall. The bars pinning me to the chair slide away. The big ax still remains buried in the wall. Its handle crosses over my chest, holding me in place. Claire grabs the handle and yanks on it.

"I can't get it," she says. "Who did this to you?"

"That crazy woman. She told me she was going to perform the same experiment on me that she did on her own father. She's completely insane -"

Pain erupts through my body. Something inside me swells, cutting off my oxygen. Screaming, I claw at my chest.

"What's wrong?" Claire says.

I gasp, "Claire - can't - breathe - Claire - help me - Claire - !"

Anger fills me so deeply that everything needs to be destroyed, including the skinny thing that no longer has a name.

"Steve!" it cries.

I grab the ax and rip it out of the wall. I stand tall, much taller than the puny, pathetic thing is. Growling, I swing the ax at it. It dodges and runs away. I run after it. I swing the ax and smash other puny, pathetic things made of iron. I will kill it. I will annihilate it and rip it apart like wet tissue. Then I'll lather in its blood until the peace comes and I can rest.

Metal sticks crawl between me and the little thing. I strike them over and over, splitting and bending them into a hole I can climb through. Mistress sends a long, squirmy beastie that smacks the thing against the wall. The beastie slithers around the teeny thing and lifts it into the air.

I raise the ax high.

The thingie looks at me with its blue eyes. Her blue eyes. So fierce. So pretty. So like the girl named -

"Claire!"

The name roars from my mouth, from me. Claire Redfield. The girl with blue eyes. The girl who showed me concern, kindness, and compassion when no one else would. My friend.

I slice off the beastie wrapped around her. She falls to the floor. Mistress sends another beastie. Smacking the ax from my clawed hand, the beastie flies through me. It pins me, bleeding, to the wall as I howl in pain. Then the beastie, the tentacle is gone. Mistress - that crazy woman - is gone. The anger is gone. Even the pain is gone.

The only thing left is Claire.

She runs toward me. The green scales, fangs, and claws melt, and I shrink back down to my scrawny five-foot-eight. By the time she reaches me, I look human again except for the green skin. But I'm not human, not anymore. And thanks to this giant hole in my gut and the blood pooling around me, it doesn't matter anymore. Nothing matters now except Claire.

Kneeling, she stares at the hole in my gut. Her blue eyes glisten.

"Oh, Steve," she says.

I give her a smile. A reassuring one, to let her know it's okay - that I feel peace.

I place her hand on my cheek. "You're warm."

"Steve, you've got to hang in there, okay? My brother's come to save us. We're getting out of here."

"I swore I'd protect you, Claire. I'm sorry I couldn't. It makes me happy knowing you have someone who can."

A tear slides down her cheek. "What...what are you saying?"

"I'm glad that I met you. I...I love you, Claire."

I fall into darkness.

Somewhere far away, like an echo across an ocean, I hear her:

"Steve? Steve! No, Steve, wake up! Wake up, Steve -"